http://www.xenon-bulb.com/xenon-headlights/
Ping!
Please respond to the Xenon discussion in this thread, as the other has importance beyond our chat. My apologies for encouraging the topic drift by participating.
If you (not you personally) are so concerned about lighting up the road in front of you just drive with your high beams on all the time. Same thing.
Interesting question. Love them and wouldn’t get another car without them. Now off to the original thread to see how you got started on this topic...
They have their utility. However, I am reluctant to agree that the government needs to mandate on this issue.
I believe people hate it because it stands out in terms of colour, compared to the rest, more than this being an issue pertaining to glare.
Hate em.
I drive a 2002 Silverado dually, my wife drives a 2005 Aztek, I own a Yamaha 1300 Tourer and a Honda CX500.
All vehicles have been converted to HID, on my dually that includes the high beams, the stock fog lights and an after market pair of Hella driving lights that use amber coated HID lamps, all of them are real HID with Xenon lamps, the headlight housing low beam on my dually are projector lamp conversions.
I live in rural Alaska, we don’t have much in the way of streetlights, we have long dark winters and lots of animals jumping out on the highways. HID conversions are VERY popular up here, some people don’t do it right and install the wrong type of lamps and you do get the bad glare though.
Animal collisions have gone down in the last few years since more vehicles are coming out with factory installed HID lamps.
They are life savers for us in Alaska, maybe its just an urban thing why people hate them.
http://www.xenon-bulb.com/xenon-headlights/
When they first came out, I found them to be quite annoying.
The newer ones don’t seem to be as bad for some reason. Maybe they have figured out a way to focus the beam better?
Happens in 747s all the time.
Overall, they’re annoying
They always blinded my as badly as brights, but now that I know there are studies proving me wrong, I think they’re just peachy.
Xenon lamps have a wider color spectrum than Halogen or Incandescent lamps, Xenon lamps need to be tuned to a better lens design than the traditional Fresnel cut lens headlights have been using.
Ever seen a lighthouse lens? Its called a fresnel lens, its made to amplify the light, does NOT wotk very well with an Xenon lamp, sends the light every which way.
A projector lamp does just that, it removes the hot spots and makes a nice even light, just like a movie projector lamp, thus the name.
As far as the color many people were mistaken thinking the higher Kelvin number means more light, wrong its the opposite, I use 6000K lamps except for my driving lights which are 4300K amber coated bulbs.
Yes people in Alaska bitched and complained, and some owners were told they were too bright by the State Troopers when they first came out, now almost everyone uses them, anything less and they become the minority. So we all basically went with better lights.
I repeat, its an improvement, it saves lives. Period.
I have thought about getting them, but I hate it when they are on a big rig or come up behind me on a big four wheeler. I also drive an SUV, but I am talking of the trucks with a 4” lift and big mud tires that are so prevalent in the North Wet.
When I can afford it, I prefer to upgrade my headlights to E-Code. The intensity of the light is only a part of the equation. The light pattern is MUCH more important. Much of a standard DOT light pattern is wasted on lighting the air well-above the road. E-Code lamps light up the road, and the signs on the side of the road. Glare is actually LESS than standard straight ahead incandescents.
The Europeans don’t get much right. They got headlamps right.
Hope the people who love them also love seeing my brights switched on when they blind me.
If they are the bluish looking ones I see in oncoming traffic that HURT my eyes, then I hate them.
should be outlawed due to causing hazzardous driving conditions.
I think it’s awesome how in recent years I see multi-colored lights coming at me - pink, blue, yellow...
Especially the blue ones...i’s always fun wondering what the blue lights are, am I about to drive into the side of a house?
So colorful and pretty, especially the geniuses with yellow headlights, and blue parking lights in the front of their cars. Anything that distracts me when driving must be a good thing...
I have a pickup that has halogen lamps. They are bright too, but I have the sense to flip to low beam when I see oncoming traffic or come up on another vehicle from behind.
I drive on a very dark road, and the worst thing is having a car come over a hill crest with lights that look like the sun at noon in summer. I also drive with the driving / fog lamps when I’m on a well lit freeway.
Those Xenon lamps are blinding during daylight hours. There are plenty of idiots who don’t have a clue what that little blue idiot light on the dash means, or too busy doing something other than driving.
In any case, to continue on this thread, I HATE DOT headlights! E-code (European) headlights or HIDs, almost anything is better than standard US DOT headlights!
US DOT headlights, with their ca. 1928 beam pattern are awful to begin with, and that's brand-new, right out of the box. After a few years, when the plastic covers get clouded and pitted and the reflectors oxidize, they're about as illuminating as candlelight. The E-code (halogen) headlights used in Europe and the rest-of-the-world have a cutoff beam pattern designed not to blind oncoming drivers and throw light to the right of the car. They're many times better than DOT lights.
HID xenon headlights have been sold in the US for 18 years and people have been complaining about them for 18 years. As the price falls, they're becoming standard or optional equipment on more and more cars, and not just on luxury brands. For 2011, the "Touring Elite" model of the Honda Odyssey minivan is equipped with HID headlights as standard equipment.
In a few years it's likely that almost all cars will be sold in the US with HID or LED headlights.